I have had numerous requests in the past year to add the sport of lacrosse to the outstanding menu of youth sports activities in Methuen. With a group of persistent residents nipping at my heels I have promulgated an executive order creating a Methuen Lacrosse Committee to gauge resident interest and create a lacrosse program for our city.

The program would initially be run under the auspices of our Recreation Department, with the goal of creating an independent association similar to the other youth groups running sport specific programs in Methuen. My thanks to Caroline Hamel, who put the idea forward at a neighborhood gathering, as well as Ernie Difiore and Wayne Puglisi. We will try to get started with a lacrosse clinic in September that the new committee will set up. As always we are fortunate to have a great Recreation Director in Bill Pare, who has helped to coordinate all of this effort.

As a UMASS Amherst graduate I remember the glory days of the UMASS program run by coach Dick Garber. “Garbers Gorillas” were a nationally ranked team playing at the very top echelon of national lacrosse, so we have a rich history of lacrosse in Massachusetts. Hopefully we will soon have something similar in Methuen. Read the Tribune story here.